Christ Our Only Hope

By Mary Farrar

On Thursday, March 22, LIFT traveled from El Refugio to El Chaco. We stopped at El Mitad del Mundo in Quito where the equator is. After taking some photos ,we shopped for souvenirs and climbed into our bus to continue to El Chaco. The drive was several hours long - full of beautiful scenery as the bus traveled up over the mountains then down into the jungle. We reached El Chaco and were able to move into our accommodations. We stayed in a hotel that is owned by a Christian woman, Teresa, who attends the church in Chaco.  The rooms in the hotel are small. We paired up into rooms and all shared a twin-sized bed with another person. There were two toilets and showers to share among ourselves. We ate all of our meals at the church. Some members of the church graciously cooked our food for us and it was very delicious. That day when we arrived, the church (called Cristo El Unica Esperanza - meaning Christ our only hope) held a welcome service for LIFT. Pastor Enrique began by reminding us that although they are from Ecuador and we are from the United States, we are all united under Christ no matter our nationality. We immediately felt welcomed and loved by the people of Chaco.

On Friday morning, we got to choose to go on a jungle hike led by our Ecuador host, Rick Borman, or white water rafting down the river in town. We had a lot of fun exploring more of the jungle that Ecuador has to offer by either hiking up a creek with multiple beautiful cascades or floating on down a wild river in a deep gorge. After we returned from the excursions, our dance team joined with the church’s dance team for practice so they could teach each other new styles of dance. The others got to rest, work on LIFT homework, or go over their lessons for Sunday school the next day. On this day, a few of our students started to feel sick due to change in diet and some were still experiencing altitude sickness. Please pray that our bodies would continue to adjust to the new things we are being exposed to.

On Saturday we had the amazing opportunity to be split into groups and go into homes in Chaco. Pastor Enrique arranged for us to visit people in the community who were disabled, sick, or struggling in some way and in need of encouragement. Many of these people unfortunately cannot attend church for their various reasons. We were able to hear their stories, read the Bible with them and sing songs. We all had unique and eye opening experiences during this part of our time in Chaco. In the afternoon we got to explore more of the jungle with people from the church. We went to a national park of Ecuador and saw the country's largest waterfall. Then we went to another waterfall, Cascada Rio Malo, that we got to swim at. We were certainly lucky to be able to see so much of the Ecuadorian jungle and spend time with people from the church.

On Palm Sunday there was a special service held outside down by the river along the gravel beach. There was worship music and then we were split into groups for Sunday school: kids, teens, and young adults while the adults listened to testimonies from some LIFT students. Prior to arriving in Ecuador, LIFT had been split into ministry teams and prepared lessons, skits, games, etc. to bring to the Ecuadorians. Sunday was a great opportunity for the Sunday school ministry teams to share what they had worked on for the weeks prior to arriving. The weather was beautiful for this day,, an answer to prayers. We praise God for this blessing because it rains a lot in the jungle of Ecuador and it was very likely that we would not have been able to have our service outside. That night the church held a farewell service for LIFT to thank us for the encouragement we had brought to their church. The women of the church had made pillows for us to thank us for our service to them and to remind us to pray for them. Pastor Enrique told us that he forgot that we do not all speak the same language and he felt like heaven had already come with us. The people of El Chaco were so kind and welcoming. They truly showed us the love that Jesus has for everyone.

Today is Monday and we head back to El Refugio to do some laundry and rest before heading to Oyacachi tomorrow (Tuesday). Please continue to pray for safe travels, health, and for the work of God to be done through us and in us.

Be sure to check out the pictures posted under the LIFT 39 Album on the LIFT Discipleship Program Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/liftdiscipleshipprogram/